Jacob Blake handcuffed to hospital bed despite being paralyzed
'He will need a miracle to walk again, and return to some semblance of the man he once was.'
The father of Jacob Blake, the Black man shot multiple times by a white Wisconsin police officer on Sunday, is outraged over his son being handcuffed to his hospital bed.
29-year-old Blake remains hospitalized with multiple injuries and is paralyzed from the waist down. Doctors do not know if his paralysis will be permanent, theGRIO previously reported.
Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr., was left “heartbroken” when he visited his son at the Wauwatosa, Wisconsin hospital, and saw he was handcuffed to the bed. When asked why his son had been arrested, he reportedly received no answer.
Read More: Teen accused of killing 2 at Blake protest charged with homicide
“This is an insult to injury,” Justin Blake, the uncle of the victim, told CNN on Thursday. “He is paralyzed and can’t walk and they have him cuffed to the bed. Why?”
Gov. Tony Evers appeared to condemn Blake’s treatment, noting his concern about him being handcuffed, the report states.
“I would have no personal understanding why that would be necessary. I can’t imagine why that’s happening and I would hope that we would be able to find a better way to have him get better and recover,” said Evers.
The Blake family attorney, famed civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, said it would take a “miracle” for Blake to be able to use his legs again.
“The medical diagnosis right now is that he is paralyzed, because those bullets severed his spinal cord,” Crump said at a press conference on Tuesday.
“He will need a miracle to walk again. He is currently in surgery as we speak, to try and save his life. And return to some semblance of the man he once was,” he added.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang shared Thursday that he spoke with Blake Sr. about his son.
“His father actually used the words ‘chains.’ He said my son is chained up,” Yang told CNN.
“When asked what message I could share on his family’s behalf, #JacobBlake Sr. said to me, ‘Tell them my son is a human being,'” Yang tweeted.
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